36.4.1 FTP Objects

Octave supports the FTP protocol through an object-oriented interface.
Use the function ftp to create an FTP object which represents the
connection. All FTP functions take an FTP object as the first argument.

: f =ftp(host)

: f =ftp(host, username, password)

Connect to the FTP server host with username and password.

If username and password are not specified, user
"anonymous" with no password is used. The returned FTP object
f represents the established FTP connection.

The list of actions for an FTP object are shown below. All functions
require an FTP object as the first argument.

Method

Description

ascii

Set transfer type to ascii

binary

Set transfer type to binary

cd

Change remote working directory

close

Close FTP connection

delete

Delete remote file

dir

List remote directory contents

mget

Download remote files

mkdir

Create remote directory

mput

Upload local files

rename

Rename remote file or directory

rmdir

Remove remote directory

: close(f)

Close the FTP connection represented by the FTP object f.

f is an FTP object returned by the ftp function.

: mget(f, file)

: mget(f, dir)

: mget(f, remote_name, target)

Download a remote file file or directory dir to the local
directory on the FTP connection f.

f is an FTP object returned by the ftp function.

The arguments file and dir can include wildcards and any
files or directories on the remote server that match will be downloaded.

If a third string argument target is given, then it must indicate
the path to the local destination directory. target may be a
relative or absolute path.

: mput(f, file)

Upload the local file file into the current remote directory on the
FTP connection f.

f is an FTP object returned by the ftp function.

The argument file is passed through the glob function and any
files that match the wildcards in file will be uploaded.

: cd(f)

: cd(f, path)

Get or set the remote directory on the FTP connection f.

f is an FTP object returned by the ftp function.

If path is not specified, return the remote current working
directory. Otherwise, set the remote directory to path and return
the new remote working directory.

If the directory does not exist, an error message is printed and the
working directory is not changed.

: lst =dir(f)

List the current directory in verbose form for the FTP connection f.

f is an FTP object returned by the ftp function.

: ascii(f)

Set the FTP connection f to use ASCII mode for transfers.

ASCII mode is only appropriate for text files as it will convert the
remote host’s newline representation to the local host’s newline
representation.

f is an FTP object returned by the ftp function.

: binary(f)

Set the FTP connection f to use binary mode for transfers.

In binary mode there is no conversion of newlines from the remote
representation to the local representation.

f is an FTP object returned by the ftp function.

: delete(f, file)

Delete the remote file file over the FTP connection f.

f is an FTP object returned by the ftp function.

: rename(f, oldname, newname)

Rename or move the remote file or directory oldname to newname,
over the FTP connection f.